Tijuana a "launching point" for Mexican culture

The new director of Tijuana's Cultural Center, Pedro Ochoa, in suit and red tie, shares a word on Friday with Rafael Tovar y de Teresa, head of Mexico's National Council for Culture and the Arts following a ceremony that drew a wide array of artists and cultural promoters.
— Cecut

The new director of Tijuana's Cultural Center, Pedro Ochoa, in suit and red tie, shares a word on Friday with Rafael Tovar y de Teresa, head of Mexico's National Council for Culture and the Arts following a ceremony that drew a wide array of artists and cultural promoters.
/ Cecut

TIJUANA  Mexico’s top cultural official on Friday pledged increased efforts to promote his country’s culture in the United States, and said one of the key launching points will be the Tijuana Cultural Center.

Rafael Tovar y de Teresa, who took over in December as head of the National Council for Culture and the Arts, said he is working with Mexico’s foreign ministry to project “the best of our country,” through the arts, adding that the Tijuana-San Diego region could achieve “some of the top results.”

Tovar was at the cultural center, known as Cecut, to attend the formal presentation of the center’s new director, Pedro Ochoa Palacio, a 54-year-old Tijuana native who most recently served as cultural attache at the Mexican Consulate in San Diego.

In the audience were numerous artists, dancers, playwrights, actors, classical musicians, writers, cultural promoters, and others who greeted Ochoa’s entrance with a standing ovation. Also present was a small San Diego cultural contingent that included Rob Sidner, director of the Mingei International Museum.

As head of the largest and best-funded arts institution in Tijuana, Ochoa is expected to play a powerful role in shaping the city’s cultural life in the coming years. One of more sensitive debates within Tijuana is how much local artists should be taken into account when planning exhibits and performances at the Cecut.

Ochoa previously headed the Cecut from 1989 to 1994. Ochoa said that his plan now involves bringing “more Tijuana culture to the world, and more Mexican culture to Tijuana.”

Built with funds from a Mexican oil export boom, the Cecut’s opening in 1982 marked a turning point in the city’s cultural life. With a 1,100-seat theater, an art gallery and a movie theater, it is the largest federally funded cultural institution outside Mexico City.

Ochoa said one of his first moves will be working to bring a major Aztec exhibit to the Cecut, one that he expects will generate much interest in San Diego. Another plan is to link the Cecut to the Los Angeles Book Fair, inviting some of the participating authors to speak in Tijuana.